Cheap and expensive perfumes, the main signs of a low-grade perfume, a comparative description of products in different price categories, advice on choosing. High-quality perfumes are a product of the creative labor of perfumers, an expensive development, complemented by the efforts of other participants in the production process. Currently, most women cannot imagine their life without the use of perfumes, because this is the guarantee of the individual image of its wearer. It ensures the creation of a pleasant scent on the body and around a person, and gives a good mood. The main characteristic of a quality perfume is its aroma, its structure, durability and safety of use. This article describes the main parameters by which you can distinguish cheap perfumes from expensive ones.
Signs of cheap perfume
At all times, there were people who, without spending a lot of money, tried to earn dishonestly on someone else's name. Perfumes are considered one of the most attractive product categories for fraudsters, so there is a large number of low-grade perfumes on the modern market. In such conditions, lovers of expensive fragrances should be extremely careful not to be deceived, but to buy a good product at a decent price.
Among the variety of perfumery products, it is quite difficult to determine not only the aroma. The market is filled with both quality goods and cheap ones. The term "budget perfume" most likely means low quality. Perfumes, in the production of which high-quality expensive materials were used, cannot be cheap, there are no big discounts on them. Therefore, when a perfume is offered in a store with a discount of more than 10%, you can rest assured that it is a fake.
Let's list the main features of cheap perfume:
- First of all, the low price;
- The color of the liquid is too bright;
- Presence of sediment in the vial;
- Poor packaging;
- Fragrance;
- Monotonous smell throughout its sound;
- A short or too long tube inside the bottle;
- Negative reaction of the body to sprayed perfume.
Places of sale of low-quality perfumes: mass markets, stalls in the corridors, shops with "confiscated". The presence on the shelves of outlets of perfumes from different brands of the same volume at the same price indicates that this is a cheap product.
Comparative characteristics of cheap and expensive perfumes
Each product of the perfumery industry has several parameters, thanks to which you can distinguish an expensive product from a cheap one. It is known that original perfumes cannot cost little, but cheap ones can have both low and high prices. That is why, in order to avoid deception, it is recommended to pay attention to the composition of the perfume, as well as some of the most important characteristics for the buyer - smell, persistence, sillage.
How to distinguish cheap perfumes from expensive ones
The composition of a perfume is a guarantee of its quality. It is known that there are a lot of natural basic and auxiliary substances used in the production of perfumes, each of which has cheap synthetic counterparts that can cause great harm to the body.
The main difference between expensive and cheap perfumes is that manufacturers of elite high-quality fragrances use expensive natural ingredients, while counterfeiters use synthetic ingredients that have a low cost. Hence the price of the final product.
The main components of expensive perfumes: organic products, alcohol, distilled water, essential oils. It should be understood that the content of these ingredients should be optimal. The formula of each fragrance is carefully developed by professional perfumers in such a way that the result is complex mixtures that can gradually unfold. The latest and most precise equipment is used in production.
Let's describe the main components of perfumes for a deeper understanding of the differences between cheap and expensive perfumes:
- Perfume … These are substances designed to create a scent and block the sometimes unpleasant odor of a perfume base. In the original expensive perfumes, natural fragrances are used, the cost of which is quite high. In cheap ones, synthetic analogs are used or much less natural fragrances are added to the mixture.
- Alcohol … Usually ethyl alcohol is taken for the production of perfumes. But to reduce the cost of the product, counterfeiters often use technical methyl alcohol, which can cause allergies or more serious health problems, and give perfumes an unpleasant odor.
- Dyes … Manufacturers of expensive perfumes do not use brightly colored pigments, so quality products will never have bright colors. The use of caustic dyes in cheap perfumes is fraught with stains on clothes and irritation on the skin.
- Preservatives … The content of this category of substances in cheap perfumes can be up to 80%. Many of these preservatives can cause allergies. They are most often used to prevent the development of germs in perfumes.
The formula of this expensive perfume is the intellectual property of the developer, so it is not disclosed. The data on the composition of the perfume described on the packaging are rather vague, because sometimes only the name of a group of substances is written.
If names such as benzaldehyde, benzyl acetate, a-pinene, camphor are indicated on the packaging, then you should refuse to buy such perfumes, because the listed components cause severe health disorders, for example, convulsions, dizziness, difficulty breathing, indigestion, kidney function, pancreas, etc.
The persistence of expensive and cheap perfumes
An important indicator of perfumes is their persistence, which is a time characteristic of the scent's sound. In other words, it is the ability of a perfume to stay on the body and clothes for some time. The time frame of durability is from the moment the product is applied to the complete evaporation of the odor. Let's take a closer look at how to distinguish cheap perfumes from expensive ones.
It is generally accepted that cheap perfumes have poor durability, the smell disappears quickly, or a pleasant aroma is replaced by an unpleasant smell of excipients. And the dear ones, on the contrary, are held for a long time, gradually opening up and giving pleasant sensations.
It is known that the persistence of a perfume is determined by the concentration of the perfume composition within the total volume of the mixture. In quality products, this figure should be at least 15%. In expensive ones, it can reach 40%. In this case, the aroma lasts from 5 to 12 hours. However, due to the fact that natural fragrances are quite expensive, manufacturers in cheap perfumes save on essential oils to reduce the cost, and the concentration does not exceed 10% at the output. This, in turn, leads to a decrease in the persistence of the aroma (1-2 hours).
However, there is also such an option when, nevertheless, cheap perfumes are highly durable. But is it worth believing that such endurance can speak of good quality - no, of course. Indeed, in this case, cheap synthetic ingredients are used to fix the smell, which are hazardous to health.
The difference between cheap perfumes and expensive ones in smell
An important feature of quality perfumes is the complexity of the perfume composition. Expensive perfumes have a multifaceted aroma that changes during its presence on the skin and body.
The structure of the scent can be represented as follows:
- Top note … In the first 15-20 minutes after applying the perfume, an initial smell is felt, it is quite strong, but very unstable. During the specified time, the least persistent components of the product evaporate, which include citrus essential oils selected by the perfumer, for example, bergamot, lemon, tangerine, orange or thyme, tarragon, rosemary, coriander, rosewood.
- Middle note … The top note gradually develops into a middle note that is more persistent. The scent lasts up to 2 hours on the skin. For the middle note, perfumers use spicy, woody or floral ingredients such as jasmine, verbena, geranium, and rose essence.
- Base note … It is the final chord of the aromatic symphony. The main smell is retained on the body for more than 10 hours. The base note can sound like vanilla, sandalwood, sage, oakmoss, musk, or other ingredients.
Because evaporation occurs gradually, then the aroma changes gradually. In a quality perfume, there can be no sharp changes in smell, which cannot be said about cheap perfumes.
Most manufacturers of budget perfumes pay attention only to the first note, which first of all makes an impression on the buyer. After all, it is quite difficult to understand how the smell will change in 20 minutes or 2 hours. That is why the top note of perfume, no matter how beautiful it is, cannot be a guarantee of the high quality of the perfume.
A train of expensive and cheap perfume
At its core, odor is a physical particle characterized by a very light weight. This gives it the ability to stay not only on the skin, hair and clothes, but also to hang in the air. That is why, during evaporation, many fragrances leave behind a trail, which is an invisible scent trail that remains after the bearer of the perfume.
The sillage of a perfume is a rather multifaceted phenomenon. Some perfumes do not have it at all, they are felt only when you approach the source of the fragrance directly. Such perfumes are more delicate than “sillage” ones.
Its absence cannot indicate the low quality of the perfume. But the presence of a plume with an unpleasant scent is a sure sign of cheap ingredients in fragrant liquids.
The trail of an expensive perfume consists of all three notes, which are revealed in the same way as it happens directly on the skin.
Each perfume has its own unique mark. The uniqueness of the trail is also provided by the physiological characteristics of the wearer, for example, the type of skin (oily, normal, dry). The aroma and its intensity are also influenced by weather conditions, such as humidity levels.
Criteria for choosing expensive perfumes
There are several step-by-step ways to determine the quality of a perfume, as well as its originality. The main thing is to be careful when choosing a perfume.
So, according to what parameters it is necessary to choose perfumes and cut off cheap counterparts:
- By price … Quality perfumes cannot be cheap, because their cost is quite high due to the use in the production of expensive ingredients that ensure their high quality.
- By packing … Cheap counterparts can be easily weeded out by the quality of the packaging. The cardboard should be of high quality, its inner part should be snow-white. Inside the box there should be a cardboard retainer that holds the perfume bottle and prevents it from moving inside the package. If the box is also packed in a polyethylene cover, then its joints must be sealed with an even seam.
- By name … Often, counterfeiters change their names a little, as if allowing a typo in it, i.e. change only one letter. In this case, the name is perceived by an inexperienced buyer as original. An expensive perfume manufacturer will never allow misspelled product names.
- According to the manufacturer indicated on the package … If the packaging with a well-known name does not contain the words "made in", but only the name of the country is indicated, then the perfume is fake. Original high quality perfumes are produced in France and Italy. Well-known companies do not issue licenses for the production of their products, therefore, if a country other than France is indicated on the packaging, for example, with French perfumes, then they are fake.
- By perfume color … Real expensive perfumes always have delicate shades. Dyes of intense color are often added to cheap ones - hot pink, bright blue, etc.
- By smell … You should check the fragrance before buying. To do this, you need to put it on a blotter (a special strip for getting to know the scent), and then inhale the scent from a distance of 15 cm. A high-quality perfume will leave pleasant sensations from light unobtrusive notes. If the smell is pungent, then the perfume is low-grade.
If you have to buy expensive perfumes that you have already used, fell in love with and wanted to feel their aroma again, you should carefully consider the old packaging and the bottle in order to be able to simply compare with the original. You can also visit the manufacturer's website and study the distinctive features of certain products in order to visually determine which product on the store counter is a fake or an original. There can be a lot of distinctive features, for example, the design of the product, the font, the colors used, the content of the inscriptions, the logo, etc.
How to choose a perfume - watch the video:
The choice of aroma is an individual matter, but the selection of a quality product is everyone's responsibility. The point is not only to ignore counterfeit products, but also to buy safe perfumes for your health.
